IN YOUR OPINION

Letters to the Editor for Feb. 18, 2013

Published: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 11:03 p.m.

Losing America

Wake up America — or should I say, have you seen America today? I can't seem to find her.

The flag is being stomped to the ground and torn to shreds whenever anyone wishes. Our flag has been a symbol for many years. It's a sign of freedom, lives lost and pride. Mostly it shows our freedom has been compromised for the sake of the almighty dollar and power.

America is not America anymore. It's heading for a terrible disaster and no one is doing anything about it. Our government is out of control. We've become the laughingstock of the world. We don't have the influence we used to have. We are not respected anymore.

Wonder what will happen when the sleeping dog wakes up. Will he wag his tail? Will we have a revolution?

Geraldine Barnes

Ocala

Obama's budget

The president has announced that none of his proposals, investments or spending would increase the federal deficit. That is truly wonderful since it will do away with any requests to raise the debt ceiling during his second term.

He has also stated that we must give careful thought to the budget. I am sure we all await his budget submission.

Wil Rose

Ocala

Above the law

I believe in law and order as dictated by our U.S. Constitution. I also believe that 58 percent of those who voted in the last election here in Marion County voted for support of the Constitution.

I read two letters in Tuesday's paper criticizing Congressman Rich Nugent's stand against President Obama's use of drones at his discretion. This is America, not Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or some other dictator in the Middle East who stand alone in calling the shots for men to die. Folks, that is not what America is about. We are a nation of laws and have freedom guaranteed under our Constitution.

President Obama is working every day to gain power and rule over us as a dictator. No elected president should ever have the authority to order drone strikes. President Obama has done many orders that are borderline against freedom and the Constitution.

Another example of lack of respect for the Constitution is the Benghazi episode. Four men died because of a lack of CIA security. A lie can't cover up the murders. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's response to questions of the Senate committee — “At this point Senator, what difference does it make?” — well, four men died. This is the attitude of this administration; they believe they are above the law.

Richard Barber

Ocala

No compromise, no cooperation

Regarding the letter “More of the same” (Feb. 14), the writer states “in neither of their speeches, nor Nugent's speech, was there one mention of any spirit of compromise and cooperation.”

Show me the “spirit of compromise and cooperation” from the Democrats in the past four years. Indeed, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once stated something to the effect that “We won the election, and we will make the rules.”

Several years ago, the Republicans compromised with the Democrats on amnesty for millions of illegals in exchange for closing the borders. Result? After all these years the border still remains open and we are right back where we started — millions of new illegals.

They compromised with the Democrats on taxes in exchange for fixing our debt problem. Result? Plenty of new taxes and our debt is now the highest in our nation's history. In the past four years the Democrats have not even attempted to produce a budget, which is their sworn duty under the Constitution. But they had plenty of time to kill every budget sent to them by the House Republicans.

Each time we reached out our hand to your Democrats all we got back was a bloody stump.

Compromise? Cooperation? Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.

Don Goodman

Ocala

State of the Union

The State of the Union is in jeopardy of failure.

The president asks for more taxes and more government spending. The reality is that increasing taxes during a recession, increasing the size of government and spending has failed to jump-start the economy every time it has been attempted.

What we need is less government, not more.

The reality is that too many have lost any interest in individual responsibility. Too many are willing to take government assistance rather than work for less money or a perceived “less prestigious” job than they had.

The reality is that too many people demand more and more “entitlements” from the government, which the politicians are only too willing to promise. The Declaration of Independence stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The reality is that our Declaration of Independence and Constitution guarantee the freedoms to live freely, not to ensure money, housing, health care, and/or good paying jobs. These things you must work for, a concept foreign to too many people today.

With a debt of $16 trillion and $1 trillion deficits every year going forward, together with unsustainable growth of “entitlements,” we are on an unrecoverable path to failure of not only the American dream but the failure of America.

I fear it is already too late.

Bill Francis

Summerfield

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